2.

Rainbow Talking (children)

Get students to pick any colour from the rainbow. Set a timer of 2-5 minutes,
depending on students’ levels. They must think of as many items as they can, that
are that colour, in the target language. Use the things around you for inspiration.
Online dictionaries could be useful here, but not a requirement. Share ideas with
the whole class.

3. True or False (adults)

This is a simple ‘getting to know the teacher’ ice breaker activity. Create
individual slides with true or false options that might be interesting for your
students to know about you. Try to combine topic related vocabulary of things you
have previously taught, or things you need them to remember for future lesson. You
could use the help of Plickers (see below) to collate your true or false answers.
Alternatively, use a thumb up for true and thumb down for false, perhaps.

4. Last One Standing (children, teens)

The teacher says sentences in target language, i.e. “I woke up late every morning
during lock down” or “I haven’t brushed my teeth today” and the students sit down
if it’s true for them. To keep those who have sat down in the game, the teacher can
ask students sitting down to translate, in order to have another ‘life’ and be able
to participate again. The last one standing wins! Fun getting to know you game with
a focus on listening and translation.

5. Popcorn Speaking (teens, adults)

No real popcorn was hurt in the making of this activity!!! Have all students
seated, facing the front and advise they must talk about themselves or a topic.
Depending on what you’re trying to assess! Ask them to think for a few minutes and
prepare 5-10 bullet points /sentences.
All students start with 5 points. One student begins and stops after they have said
their sentence. They nominate another student by saying their name immediately and
then sit down. The nominated student must stand up and either: translate what the
other student (2 points) said AND/OR read out one of their sentences (1 point).
They repeat the nomination activity until you get bored! The speaking activity
allows students to get to know each other, you to get to know them, as well as fix
any pronunciation errors etc.

8. Don’t Pass The Parcel (children)

Play some TL music and when the music stops whoever has it needs to answer the
question. For a ‘new-normal’ approach, students could clap their turn, raise their
hands (mexican wave style), stand up and sit down etc until the music stops. It’s
an easy way to do some formative assessment.

20. Odd One Out (children, teens, adults)

odd one out covid-19 friendly activities for language lessonsAnother golden oldie!
Perfect for topic-related vocabulary.

5. Memory Game (No-Prep) (children, teens, adults)

You must have come across the game, ‘I went to the supermarket and bought…’ or
‘Ready for my holiday, I packed…’ This is the idea of this MFL game!

6.11. Twenty-One (No-Prep Language Classroom Game) (children,teens)

1. Students stand in a circle and the first person starts counting upwards
consecutively from 1 in the target language. They can say one, two or three
numbers, i.e. one-two
2. The next student has to go up consecutively, starting from the next number,
again either saying one to three numbers, i.e. three-four-five
3. Repeat step 2 and the person who ends up having to say ’21’ is out.

9. What am I talking about? for Vocabulary Learning (adults, teens)

Instructions:

1. Put students into groups of 3-4

2. Give each group 2 ‘secret’ topics/themes that you have pre-prepared (speak for 1
minute)
3. Students work in their groups to prepare a list of 10-15 topic-related vocab in
order of ‘difficulty’. The word they feel is most difficult, but relatd to the
theme gets awarded 15 points, then 14, 13, 12 etc
4. After prep time, go around each group with a different student revealing a new
word from the list each round, starting with hardest
5. The other groups must identify the topic, for every guess they make incorrectly,
that team loses a point.
6. Award points based on value of the word the ‘winning’ team gets right

10. Jumbled Words With A Twist (children, teens)

12. Word Acrostic to Teach Vocabulary (adults, teens)

Vocabulary Activity Resources Required: Whiteboard, whiteboard pen, exercise
books/paper, pens
When To Use: anytime, but works well at the beginning of a topic to assess current
knowledge (add to it as you go through a topic), as well as at the end as a
revision activity.
Instructions:
1. Supply a topic, i.e. Travelling, Education, Health etc and write the word down
one side of the whiteboard
2. Students must write one-topic related word which starts with each letter of the
word on the whiteboard, i.e.
Trip
Ride
Aeroplane
Voyage
Excursion
Lake
Look
Indicate
Norway
Gallivant

13. Five Words Vocabulary Practice Activity (teens, adults)

Vocabulary Activity Resources Required: Paper, pens and whiteboard
When To Use: Anytime. But, it works well at the beginning of a topic to assess
prior knowledge, in the middle to assess learning, as well as at the end as a
vocabulary revision activity.

Instructions:

1. Share a broad topic with learners (clothes, school or travel etc)

2. Explain you have 5 brilliant topic-related written words on your paper and they
must try to guess the 5 you have by writing them on their paper.
3. Read out each of your 5 words and students cross out if they have them. Award a
point for each correctly guessed and spelled word.
4. Students share their ideas and you can add these to the board under their
lexical category for students to note down to add to their previously noted down
topic-related vocabulary.

14. Just 3 Words (adults)

Vocabulary Practice Activity Resources Required: Exercise books, A6 strips of paper
and pens
When To Use: This vocabulary activity is perfect for testing and practising
vocabulary anytime during the year and it combines the skill of writing too.

Instructions:

1.Ask each member of the class to choose a broad topic from what you have learnt
recently (i.e. food, clothes, school etc)
2. Put students into pairs and explain that their neighbour must write down three
words, directly related to the topic you have chosen in list form.
3. The student must take the list and write a short story, dialogue or essay (45,
90 or 150 words) and they must include those three words and stay topic-related.
4. Once finished, get students to peer assess.

Hangman (children, teens, adults)

Teacher says (children)